Month: August 2022

The war of words between former baseball star turned record label owner Carl Crawford and his most successful signee Megan Thee Stallion continues to escalate as Meg pushes to leave Crawford’s label, 1501 Certified Entertainment. Yesterday, when headlines broke about Meg’s amended lawsuit demanding $1 million from 1501 in addition to her request to break off her record deal, J Prince posted a(nother) lengthy caption on Instagram defending Crawford. That’s when Megan went on the offensive, posting a flurry of tweets that ripped Crawford, Prince, and 1501 for allegedly trying to take credit for her career.

“Im so over these grown ass men trying to take credit away from the work me and my mama put into the beginning of my career…” she wrote. “me and my mom “developed” my career I was already known for free styling and I was already working on Tina snow before I got to 1501.”

In the string of follow-up tweets, Meg pointed out Crawford’s relative inexperience in the music business, clarified that initially, she only wanted to renegotiate her original contract, pointed out 1501’s inability to launch any similarly successful acts, and dismissed an accusation from Crawford that she isn’t really from Houston while lambasting him for trying to stay “hip” in his 40s. You can see the full stream of thoughts below with a summary at the end.

When my mama died I knew a bunch of hood niggas who just started a label for the FIRST time were not gonna be able to manage me PROPERLY so I got with roc…by this time I was a bigger artist and I asked to renegotiate… NOT LEAVE what was wrong with that ? That man is GREEDY

Like for this man to keep getting on the internet with his back up to talk like he made me is ridiculous… was you writing my songs ? Were you with me in my dorm room recording me rapping ? What abt all that rapping out side my mamma car ? Think cyphers?? I ain’t even know YOU

If you wanna be REALLL I DEVELOPED 1501

They keep signing people and everyone got the same story … go find allll the girls and the guys that started over there with me and some of the girls after me… ask anybody in Houston how that man is fake ass Nigga talked so much shit abt jprince now that’s your bestie ok

I only respond when people say my name so all them weirdo comments abt “I’m looking for sympathy and attention” is DEAD…talk to me & ima talk back when I feel like it I don’t need validation from the internet but I’m not weak either … beat me in court not the comment section

One more thing bc he still going this 42 year old man said he never heard a story abt me playing as a kid where I’m from … sir I would hope 42 year old men couldn’t tell you where I was playing at as a kid

Now I’m just a made up character from Houston? Nobody in Houston knows me ? I just started “claiming Houston” when I got famous.. like it ain’t school pictures and some more shit out in the world

When the hate don’t work they just start saying anythingggg like who is ask anybody? All them 18 year old girls that you hanging with at 42? Cause they damn sure ain’t gone know me either

im done responding stop bringing up where I’m from and bring me my MONEY gn internet

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Following last month’s announcement of the Mercurial World Deluxe edition of their breakthrough debut album, Los Angeles indie pop duo Magdalena Bay have released the new single, “All You Do.” The duo had indicated that Mercurial World Deluxe (out on September 23rd) features “an amalgamation of new songs that didn’t originally fit the flow of Mercurial World.” And this new single fits uniquely into that mold.

“All You Do” feels like more of an indie-rock tune that doesn’t have the more overtly electronic and hyperpop elements of the bulk of Mercurial World. It’s stripped down of mechanization to feel almost like a hammed-up demo of a Magdalena Bay song and stands out for a string arrangements that build as the song plays out. The production becomes increasingly decadent, with singer Mica Tenenbaum’s vocals layering on top of one another as the tempo picks up in the song. It all comes across like the hatching process of the full blown Magdalena Bay experience from Mercurial World.

Along with the 14 new cuts on the Deluxe album, Magdalena Bay are also heading out on a fall headlining tour that begins on September 28th in Vancouver and goes ends on November 26th in Miami. Check out all of those tour dates here.

Listen and watch the video for “All You Do” above.

Mercurial World Deluxe is out 9/23 via Luminelle. Pre-order it here.

Arctic Monkeys are set to return with a new album this fall. Titled The Car, the album marks the band’s seventh, and last night, the band debuted a loungey, psychedelic new track called “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am” during a performance at Switzerland’s Zurich Openair festival.

When speaking on the album to Big Issue, lead vocalist Alex Turner detailed the creative process and how the band wrote and recorded the album in rural Suffolk, saying, “There’s a bunch of Led Zeppelin and Stones records where they were in this house in the country, and then they went and sorted it all out and overdubbed it elsewhere. We went there in the summer, took all the equipment, got the raw material and then took it on elsewhere.”

Production was later handled by the band’s longtime collaborator, James Ford.

Check out “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am” above and The Car‘s cover art and tracklist below.

1. “There’d Better Be A Mirrorball”
2. “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am”
3. “Sculptures Of Anything Goes”
4. “Jet Skis On The Moat”
5. “Body Paint”
6. “The Car”
7. “Big Ideas”
8. “Hello You”
9. “Mr. Schwartz”
10. “Perfect Sense”

The Car is out 10/21 via Domino. Pre-order it here.

It’s been 24 years since the series finale of Seinfeld, and people continue to debate whether it was “a terrible way to sign off – with wretched excess” or “a great ending to a great series.” (Those were both taken from the User Reviews section of the episode’s IMDb page, which is still very active.) “The Finale” probably doesn’t appear in too many lists of the best Seinfeld episodes; in fact, Wayne Knight, who played Newman on the continuously-popular sitcom, thinks it might belong among the show’s worst episodes.

“I think I’m like the rest of the public as far as the finale goes. I don’t think you can end that show in a way that would work,” he said during a recent appearance at Pennsylvania’s Steel City Convention (via Comic Book). “The idea of doing a retrospective winds up feeling like a clip show, so I think that they tried to pay tribute to all of the people who had walked through that set, all the great performances, all the great people. And it didn’t quite land in the way that they wanted.”

“The Finale” works better in theory (putting the four main characters on trial for the crummy things they’ve done) than it does in execution. But I still enjoy the episode, although not as much as one of the other ideas pitched for the finale, which is that Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer would meet at the “coffee shop with nothing to say.” People would have been so mad. Like, The Sopranos finale-level mad. Maybe on Curb.

(Via Comic Book)

Letting Jason Momoa cut lose in a children’s movie seems like a no-brainer, so it’s wild that it took until now for someone to finally make it happen. In the first teaser for Slumberland, Momoa plays the horned outlaw Flip who helps a young girl (Marlow Barkley) navigate a world of dreams to reunite with her late father. Directed by Francis Lawrence for Netflix, the film is a modern take on the famous turn-of-the-century comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland. More importantly, it was a chance for Momoa to be a big ol’ kid.

“I became an actor. I can’t get out of it. I’m trying to be adult as possible. But the truth of it is, I just love to play, and it’s fun to be creative and use your imagination,” Momoa told PEOPLE, “My kids keep me young, and doing the things you love to do, just playing.”

Slumberland reconnects Momoa with Lawrence after the two worked together on See for Apple TV, who encouraged the actor to cut loose:

The rapport with “someone that trusts you, kind of knows your personality and lets you fall and make mistakes, but keep trying” allowed him to experiment with his performance.

“And normally, directors, they kind of pull you in, they reel you in. And [Lawrence] just kept encouraging more and more and wilder and wilder. I just felt really free,” says Momoa.

Slumberland starts dreaming November 18 on Netflix.

(Via PEOPLE)

It seems like Elon Musk never stops, and in early 2020, he even found time to release an EDM song, “Don’t Doubt Ur Vibe.” It’s been about two-and-a-half years since the track came out and now it’s back, via a new Tesla ad.

The clip runs for about 90 seconds and features four Tesla cars putting on a light show in a warehouse, synchronized to the song. The tune’s lyrics — “Don’t doubt your vibe / Because it’s true / Don’t doubt your vibe / Because it’s you” — are also projected on a wall.

Meanwhile, Musk was recently amused by a Billie Eilish meme about him, which has childhood photos of them both and reads, “One day, Billie Eilish was walking outside and she saw a boy crying. She said to him ‘Here kid, have a roll of Air Conditioning Pair Coil 1/4’ by 3/8’ 410A 20m Polyethylene UV protected insulated Copper heat resistant to 120C. You’re destined to do great things.’ That boy was Elon Musk.” Musk added, “Still so grateful.”

Elsewhere, the world’s richest person recently declared his two main goals for the year are getting his SpaceX Starship to orbit and the wide release of FSD (full self-driving) in Tesla cars, adding, “Many other things, of course, but those are the 2 giant kahunas. Will require insane work by many super talented people, but, if anyone can do it, they can. It is an honor to work with such awesome human beings.”

Revisit “Don’t Doubt Ur Vibe” in full below.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck got married (yes, again) in Georgia this weekend. Mazel tov to the happy couple! The ceremony was officiated by podcaster Jay Shetty (no word on whether the wedding was sponsored by MeUndies or BlueChew), while the guest list included Matt Damon, Jimmy Kimmel, George Clooney, Renee Zellweger, Jane Fonda, and Kevin Smith. Affleck and the Clerks filmmaker have known each other since 1995, when Affleck was cast in Mallrats. They had a falling out, but patched things up thanks to Conan the Barbarian (Affleck made a cameo in 2019’s Jay and Silent Bob Reboot).

“Hands down, [it was] one of the five most beautiful moments I’ve ever experienced in my life, and it had nothing to do with me,” Smith told People about the wedding. “I know them, and so it makes it warm and wonderful. But even if I didn’t know these two — but I just knew the story and the history — it was so incredibly beautiful.”

Smith said Affleck “never looked better than he’s looked his entire life,” and that the actor was “radiating f*cking joy as he looked down the aisle and saw the woman of his dreams coming toward him, and she radiated it right back.” Everyone in attendance wore white, including Smith in his trademark shorts and backwards baseball cap, as seen below.

If only they made jorts in white.

(Via People)

If Sean Hannity fought John Fetterman, who would win? It’s a trick question, as Hannity would send a lawyer in as a proxy to battle it out in court. Which, as The Daily Beast reports, is exactly what the Fox News host threatened to do if Fetterman continues “lying about me [and] calling me a liar” (Hannity’s words).

On Tuesday night, Hannity spent several minutes insulting Fetterman, who is squaring off against Hannity pal/New Jersey Man Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s heated senatorial race — and is currently leading the TV quack by five points. In the course of four minutes, Hannity attempted to paint Dr. Oz as a “Washington outsider” in the same way that Donald Trump was promoted as just that (read: as if it were a good thing), and Fetterman as a lazy, socialist “trust fund brat.”

“This guy, by the way, never had a real job in his life,” Hannity said by way of introduction. “Fetterman is the guy in the tattoos and the hoodie, never worked a real job in his life. He lived off mommy and daddy as a real trust fund brat. He apparently paid $1 to buy his home from his own family. He is a devout Bernie Sanders-loving socialist… He wants to legalize heroin, supports abortion until the moment of birth — no restrictions. He also wants to release murderers and rapists from jail in order to reduce the prison population by a full third.”

As one might guess, this is a gross oversimplification of Fetterman’s beliefs and plans for Pennsylvania. Which makes it even more ironic that the biggest problem Hannity seems to have with the tatted up candidate is that he has referenced these regular attacks from Fox News and other conservative media outlets in his fundraising campaigns, so that he can fight back. But Hannity isn’t ok with that.

While Hannity had no problem declaring Fetterman, who suffered a stroke just days before the Pennsylvania primaries, “unfit” for office, he’s pissed that the senatorial candidate has used those attacks as fundraising fodder. As Hannity explained:

As of now, the Fetterman campaign is refusing to debate Dr. Oz. Also refusing my invitation to appear on this program as he and his campaign have been lying about me, raising money off of my name. He apparently sent yet another fundraising text attacking me, lying about me, calling me a liar. Every day he lies about me, I’ll continue to tell the truth about his radical, extreme positions. Way out of touch with the hardworking people of Pennsylvania. And, by the way my trust fund brat friend: When you attack me, I will attack you back 10 to 100 times harder because you’re a lying loser. And raising money for your losing campaign. He may be hearing from my lawyers very shortly. He better hope that mommy and daddy have enough money to pay his legal bills.

Wow, 10 to 100 times harder? We guess the ferocity of the attack depends on the day. You can watch Hannity’s full segment over on The Daily Beast here. But what someone should really be taking legal action against is this:

(Via The Daily Beast)

Miley Cyrus became a star with her leading role in Hannah Montana, but there were apparently a lot of opportunities for things to go differently.

In a recent TikTok video, Lisa London, the Hannah Montana casting director, revealed that during the casting process in 2005, there were three final actresses considered for the role of Miley Stewart (then named Chloe Stewart). One was Daniella Monet, who had a main role in the short-lived Jason Alexander series Listen Up! before joining the cast of Nickelodeon’s Victorious in 2010. Another was Taylor Momsen, who played Cindy Lou Who in 2000s How The Grinch Stole Christmas and later starred in Gossip Girl before shifting her focus to her band, The Pretty Reckless. The other one was, of course, Cyrus.

Following that video, Aly & AJ, the sister musical duo of musicians/actors Aly and AJ Michalka, had a tidbit to add: Aly was apparently offered the lead role before anybody else while AJ was offered the Lilly Truscott part, the latter of which ultimately went to Emily Osment. From the Aly & AJ Twitter account, AJ tweeted, “I adore Lisa London but I have some tea beyond the tea to spill. Gary Marsh originally offered the role of ‘Hannah Montana’ to Aly and I was offered the role of ‘Lilly Truscott’ (I know this so doesn’t matter but thought I’d chime in).”

Aly has discussed this before, saying on a 2021 podcast, “I at least know that I was the first because I was attached to a show that was already on the channel and was just ending [Phil Of The Future], and then I think once I passed, they came back one more time and were like, ‘Are you sure? Because we’re going to go on to the next person and offer it to another couple people.’”

Last week marked the end of Better Call Saul, when the series finale aired on August 15. The long-running Breaking Bad spin-off had a ton of great moments since its 2015 debut, but one recent one resonated with Blondie’s Debbie Harry for obvious reasons.

In “Waterworks,” the episode before the finale that aired on August 8, there’s a scene where Bob Odenkirk’s Gene Takovic (aka Saul Goodman) drives and sings along with Blondie’s 1980 No. 1 single “The Tide Is High” on the radio. However, he starts belting out the song’s chorus too soon before catching himself and awkwardly sitting in silence.

Harry got a kick out of that, as she shared the clip on Twitter yesterday (August 23) and wrote, “That feeling when you come into the chorus too early… [crying laughing emoji] Well done @BetterCallSaul and Bob Odenkirk!”

It turns out the moment was actually courtesy of some creative input from Odenkirk. In a tweet from earlier this month, a fan asked show co-creator Peter Gould, “Does anyone remember whose idea it was for Gene to go to the chorus early and then correct himself while singing along to ‘Tide Is High’ in the car? It is such an accurate and REAL moment.” Gould responded, “Vince [Gilligan, Better Call Saul co-creator] tells me that was all @mrbobodenkirk!”